Star Odyssey

Chapter 3663: The Price

The Spirit Nidus was not Yue Ya's realm. It was nearly impossible for him to personally descend to the megaverse, and the High Seraph did not obey Yue Ya. Most of the Seven Seraphs did not even know that the Nine Odysseys Megaverse existed, let alone those beneath them.

The so-called authority of a Lesser Sancte meant nothing in the Spirit Nidus.

Helpless, Yue Ya was forced to consider other options.

What the Spirit Nidus lacked, Heavenspire possessed. If even Heavenspire did not have it, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse certainly did.

It was a full two months before Ge Yao returned with an answer for Lu Yin.

“You found it all? There was absolutely no commotion in the Spirit Nidus, so where did you get all of this?” Lu Yin asked curiously.

Ge Yao replied, “Heavenspire.”

Lu Yin was taken aback. “Does Heavenspire have that many materials?”

“‘This girl doesn’t know.’ That is what Lesser Sancte Yue Ya said. These materials will be delivered to the Ark Domain within ten days.”

Lu Yin’s eyes flickered. The list of materials was far too much to have been gathered from a single parallel universe. If so much had been gathered from Heavenspire, then was Heavenspire actually a separate megaverse?

Each megaverse consisted of countless parallel universes. In particular, if Heavenspire really was the Lesser Spirit Megaverse, then given the countless years that either the High Seraph or the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had planned for, there had to be a tremendous number of universes; it might even be on the verge of being reset. If that was true, then it would not be too surprising for it to actually have all these materials.

Lu Yin did not dwell on the matter. Whether Heavenspire was a separate megaverse or not was very difficult to determine at the moment. Only by visiting the place for himself would he know the truth.

Ge Yao was most likely not someone from the Spirit Nidus, and yet she showed no sign of being a foreigner. Clearly, the Nine Odysseys Megaverse had some means of hiding such traces.

The High Seraph had accomplished this with his Spirit Transformation Art, but it was possible that he was not the originator of that technique. It might have come from the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, just like the Nine Heavens Transformation.

“Lord Seraph Lu, is this... is this now acceptable to you?” Ge Yao asked anxiously.

Lu Yin said, “Let’s discuss that once everything’s been delivered to the Ark Domain.”

Ge Yao had no choice but to retreat.

Ten days later, the Ark Domain received the materials, right on schedule.

Zhou Duo stared at the mountains of materials, and his breathing grew ragged though his eyes blazed brightly.

Only those who understood the value of the pile in front of the man could comprehend his amazement.

The Ark Domain was the only place in the Spirit Nidus where battleships were built. Despite that, they received a limited amount of materials each year, and very few materials were qualified to be used in a universe-class battleship. This meant that it took many, many years to accumulate enough to build one such vessel.

This was a major reason why the Spirit Nidus only had six universe-class battleships. The limited materials greatly restricted their efforts.

Zhou Duo had only built one universe-class battleship in his entire lifetime. Before that, the Spirit Nidus had only made five such ships, and Zhou Duo had been given the opportunity to build the sixth because generations of his Zhuo family had carefully hoarded the necessary materials.

The greatest desire of the patriarch of each successive generation of the Zhuo family was to build a universe-class battleship. Only a few of their patriarchs were lucky enough to accomplish this, and most of them could only sigh at the amount of materials that their family had gathered. Generation after generation passed as the necessary materials were slowly gathered until, by some stroke of luck, an era finally saw their efforts achieve success.

The fact that Zhou Duo had managed to build one such vessel was already an incredible blessing to him. Most likely, his son, grandson, and next few generations would never have such an opportunity, as it took too many years to gather the necessary materials.

However, the materials in front of Zhou Duo were unquestionably enough to build a new universe-class battleship. There was absolutely no doubt of that.

He had never even dreamed that he would one day live to see so many materials gathered up again.

This was the influence of Seraph Lu, and it was utterly terrifying.

When Zhou Duo had given the list of required materials over to Boundless, he had not expected them to succeed in collecting everything. He had simply been going through the necessary motions. However, Boundless had given the man an incredible surprise.

“Zhou the Brute, these are enough materials, right?” Old Tao asked with a long face. He was very impressed with what the Third Boss had accomplished, as the expressions of the people from the Ark Domain made it look like they were about to devour the materials before them.

Zhou Duo struggled to suppress his shock as he looked over at Old Tao. “It’s enough.”

Old Tao chuckled. “Is this enough to build a new universe-class battleship?”

“Definitely,” Zhou Duo answered instinctively. The moment he finished speaking, his expression changed. Old Tao, Chu Yi, Sovereign Dou Sheng, and the others were all nearby, staring at Zhou Duo with odd smiles on their faces. The sight made the man extremely uncomfortable.

How could Boundless possibly require so many materials for some mere repairs? The old man simply listed off an excessive amount of materials out of habit. In a way, he had been testing Boundless’s capabilities, which was why he had made a list of the most precious materials that were needed to build an entire universe-class battleship. He had never expected the materials to actually appear in front of him. It was a shock that the request had been successful.

At most, it would only take a tenth of the gathered materials to repair Boundless, and the remaining ninety percent could be kept by the Ark Domain. With just a few more years of gathering, they would be able to build another universe-class battleship.

However, Zhou Duo’s scheme had been noticed by Boundless.

The people from the Tianyuan Megaverse were not fools, and it was clear that there were enough materials to expand Boundless by half its current size, which was clearly overkill.

Chu Yi stared at Zhou Duo. “Make Boundless as perfect as possible, and we can share some select leftover materials with you.”

Zhou Duo let out a sigh of relief. “Understood.”

Once the materials had been delivered to the Ark Domain, Ge Yao returned to the valley to speak with Lu Yin. She once again greeted him with a deep bow. “Lord Seraph Lu, the materials have been delivered.”

Lu Yin was openly impressed. “Excellent! Now we can discuss my third condition.”

Ge Yao’s face fell. She clenched her jaw and bowed again, making sure that her head was tucked low. “Please, Seraph Lu, do not make things difficult for this girl. Lesser Sancte Yue Ya has fulfilled two conditions for you. I beg you to please demonstrate your sincerity, Lord Seraph Lu.”

Lu Yin curiously asked, “How should I go about that?”

Seeing that Lu Yin had not lost his temper, Ge Yao relaxed slightly. She looked up at him, her face pale. “Go to Heavenspire. Only there can you directly speak with Lesser Sancte Yue Ya, as he has some things to say to you, Lord Seraph Lu.”

Lu Yin stared at Ge Yao and slowly asked, “In that case, how does one enter Heavenspire?”

Yue Ya had repeatedly tried to lead Lu Yin to the Morrow Behemoth’s hand. First, Ru Mu had tried, and later, Emperor Wu. As far as Yue Ya was concerned, there was no reason for Lu Yin to be suspicious of that location, but that was only because the Lesser Sancte had no idea that Emperor Wu had left a message behind for Lu Yin. Without that information, Lu Yin should only think of the Morrow Behemoth’s hand as the entrance to Heavenspire.

That entrance was not important in itself. What mattered was whether someone used it.

For Yue Ya, as long as Lu Yin could be led to the entrance, that was enough.

Lu Yin might be wary of Heavenspire itself, but there was no reason for him to be cautious of a mere entrance.

Ge Yao explained, “Heavenspire’s entrance is not in a fixed location. At present, it is in the Morrow Behemoth’s hand. I respectfully request that Lord Seraph Lu accompany me there.”

Lu Yin visibly hesitated.

Ge Yao’s heart clenched. If she still could not get this man to follow her even after paying such a heavy price, she had no idea how she would answer to Lesser Sancte Yue Ya.

100 trillion spirit seeds, as well as an absurd assortment of rare materials. Even if it sounded like nothing more than mere resources, it was more wealth than any one organization could gather on their own. Collecting these resources had shaken the balance of the megaverse itself.

“What about this? One last thing,” Lu Yin said, raising a finger. “Help me with one last request, and then I’ll follow you to Heavenspire.”

Ge Yao hesitated. “One like me cannot agree to this on my own.”

“Then go ask Lesser Sancte Yue Ya.”

Ge Yao frowned. It was clear that she wanted to say something, but she restrained herself.

Lu Yin stared at the woman. “If there’s something on your mind, then just say it.”

Ge Yao pursed her lips before finally speaking, her tone solemn. “Lesser Sancte Yue Ya has agreed to help you replace the High Seraph, Lord Seraph Lu. To my knowledge, you and the High Seraph are already enemies, so why make things difficult now?

“I meant no offense. It’s just... if Lesser Sancte Yue Ya becomes upset and decides to choose someone else, you will lose out as well, won’t you?”

She quickly bowed low. “Please do not take offense, Seraph Lu. I may have overstepped myself.”

Lu Yin slowly smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t touch you.”

Ge Yao let out a breath relief, her expression relaxing noticeably. “Thank you, Seraph Lu.”

Lu Yin looked up at the sky, leaning back in his chair. “Do you believe that 100 trillion spirit seeds and the materials that I was given are as valuable as allowing a Seraph to cultivate the Nine Heavens Transformation?”

Ge Yao took a moment to consider the question. “I do not know.”

“Then let me tell you: it’s not even close,” Lu Yin stated, staring at Ge Yao. “This is because it’s necessary to first split apart the Nine Heavens before one can cultivate the Nine Heavens Transformation. The higher one’s cultivation, the harder it is to accomplish that. Lesser Sancte Yue Ya paid a tremendous price to split apart the Nine Heavens for Emperor Wu, and he would have never abandoned Emperor Wu easily, not unless Emperor Wu completely failed.

"As for me, since Lesser Sancte Yue Ya has only paid some trivial resources so far, I am far more likely to be abandoned. After all, the High Seraph is not one to be trifled with. While Lesser Sancte Yue Ya sits high above in the Nine Odysseys Megaverse, fearless of everything, I am different. I have but one life, and no one can change that. That is why I must ensure that Lesser Sancte Yue Ya pays a high enough price that he will not easily cast me aside. Do you understand?"

Ge Yao replied, "The Nine Odysseys Megaverse has already decided to replace the High Seraph. Nothing will change that."

"‘Nothing will change that.’ It’s true that the High Seraph will eventually disappear, but while I have been chosen to replace him, someone else could do so just as easily. Just think about what you just said: ‘the Nine Odysseys Megaverse has already decided to replace the High Seraph.’ It’s not that I, Lu Yin, will replace him."

Ge Yao’s brow furrowed as she looked at the ground. She could not find any way to refute Lu Yin’s objections.

This was because she had no idea if he was lying or not. Her sole objective was to find a way to lure Lu Yin to the Morrow Behemoth’s hand. While she had received that mission from Yue Ya, Ge Yao was not qualified to know why Lu Yin needed to be taken to that precise location.

Even if everything that she had been told was true and that the High Seraph would disappear, did he have to be replaced by Seraph Lu? Someone else could easily be given the title, and there was no guarantee that Lu Yin would be the next High Seraph.

He had clearly stated that he wanted Lesser Sancte Yue Ya to pay a heavy enough price to be invested in Lu Yin. Only then would Lu Yin be assured that he was the one who would replace the High Seraph. The desire for such assurances was only human nature.

"Go tell Lesser Sancte Yue Ya that I have one final request. As soon as that is taken care of, I will do whatever he asks," Lu Yin stated.

Ge Yao nodded. "In that case, I will share your third condition with him, Lord Seraph Lu."

She hesitated briefly and then asked, "What is your final condition?"

Lu Yin stared at the woman. "One of the keys to the Gate of Laws, either from the High Seraph or Yong Heng."

Lu Yin could not obtain any information regarding what lay past the Gate of Laws. There were absolutely no clues to be found, which made him uneasy.

He had even learned about the Nine Odysseys Megaverse and witnessed the strange scene that had appeared on the Day of Offering. But even after seeing the Greater Sancte with his awe-inspiring might, Lu Yin knew nothing about what lay beyond the Gate of Laws. That was not natural.

Lu Yin’s final condition was also a test. Not only was he testing the High Seraph and his peers, but he was also testing the Nine Odysseys Megaverse as a whole. Lu Yin wanted to discover what the Nine Odysseys Megaverse’s position was regarding the Gate of Laws.

A few days later, his spirit cloudstone trembled. Yong Heng was calling.

“Are you trying to use Yue Ya to get the key? Shouldn’t that be considered a betrayal of our alliance?”

Lu Yin laughed. “We’re just cooperating for now—this isn’t an alliance. If Boundless hadn’t already relocated, would you have actually helped Yue Ya?”

Yong Heng did not argue. “If I don’t give it, I won’t be able to give Yue Ya a proper explanation.”

“Then give it to him.”

“It still won’t reach you.”

Lu Yin was surprised. “You sound confident. Did Yue Ya contact you directly?”

“A girl named Ge Yao reached out, but I refused.”

“Then why are you so sure that even if you gave it, I wouldn’t receive it?”

“Because it wasn’t Ru Guo who asked me for it.”

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